DC Comics
Grifter #1
By Dan Horn
September 15, 2011 - 15:54

DC Comics
Writer(s): Nathan Edmondson
Penciller(s): CAFU
Inker(s): Jason Gorder
Colourist(s): Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer(s): Wes Abbott
Cover Artist(s): CAFU and BIT
$2.99 US



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Wildstorm badass Grifter is back, and this time he's operating within the confines of the actual DC Universe. He's just conned a business partner out of boon of cash and he's on his way to buy a plane ticket in cash (Does writer Nathan Edmondson know that you can't do that? Does he know what decade it is?) to meet up with his lady friend. Suddenly he's abducted by a strange creature. He wakes seemingly minutes later in a warehouse and continues, only slightly mystified, on his way to the airport. Things become not quite right immediately as Grifter finds he's able to hear the telepathic communications of creatures, disguised as humans, that have boarded his flight with him.

I have to wonder at what point Edmondson decided that the best way to reintroduce a super-powered con-man was to structure the story around some sort of alien abduction, plot devices from the now-classic Rowdy Roddy Piper vehicle They Live!, and D.B. Cooper folklore. I guess if he had pulled it off it could have been a novel and quirky amalgamation of pop-culture traditions, but Grifter doesn't even seem cognizant of its own potential eccentricity. It reads like something that was cobbled from B-sci-fi movies in a matter of minutes. Grifter #1's choppy pacing and its uninteresting developments honestly bored the hell out of me. A debut that's under scrutiny from everyone in the mainstream press is critical to nail. I don't think a well-written second issue is going to save this series once this opening chapter turns everyone off to it.

Grifter #1 also showcases the pencils of CAFU, recently lauded for his work on THUNDER Agents, but without the benefit of BIT's polished finishes on the interiors of this book, CAFU's artwork is awkward and malformed in some places. The asinine mutton chops never stopped bothering me either.

There are so many more plausible directions to go in with a character this versatile. Why we're getting this lukewarm junk, I can't tell you. This is turning into a trend with a majority of the New 52.
Rating: 4/10

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